The first battle

In this occasion I have many things to say, especially because I learned interesting facts about Israel, therefore let me share them with you. I will start with the experience of the First Battle that our Lord Jesus Christ fought in the desert against temptation.

Matthew 4:1 (NKJV)Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

This event is important because it happened right after Jesus came out of the Jordan (Baptism), in other words, the Lord was coming out of a process of humiliation. And after He fulfilled God’s ordinance, the Spirit of the Lord led Him to the desert to be tempted.

Matthew 4:5Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, [6] and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.

Now, I want you to notice how the Bible says that the devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, and from this event I want to ask you: Is the devil able to take you to certain places in order to tempt you? –If we analyze the Lord’s temptation, we will see that it happened in three different phases and places. On the first temptation, the devil tested the body of Jesus when he was hungry in the desert; then we see how the devil tested the soul of the Lord with strong feelings at the pinnacle of the temple; and finally the devil tempted the Lord spiritually when he was asking for false worship at the top of a high mountain.

Matthew 4:8Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

From the passages shown before, I can conclude that the devil’s temptation works better in certain environments and places. For example, when the people of Israel crossed the Jordan, the first city they had to conquer was Jericho. This city represented the greatest temptation for God’s people because it was the first and most important city to conquer. In the same way, we now need the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, otherwise we will not be able to defeat temptation. If we are being tempted, there is a possibility that we might fall; but at the same time, Jesus taught us how we should pray in Matthew 6:13And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Brethren, temptation comes to all Christians, but we have the word of God as our defense; I John 2:1says: My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Joshua 2:1Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land,especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.

Let’s identify how Joshua’s command was divided in three parts, as follows:

Go 2) View the land 3) Especially Jericho

To go, means to live your life as Christ commands, that is, being covered with His blood to fulfill His purpose. But there is something interesting about the third part of Joshua’s command which is: especially Jericho. Some archaeologists’ reports say that Jericho is the oldest city in the world. Therefore, I say that in order to conquer our spiritual Canaan we must conquer Jericho first. In other words, we must carefully analyze the beginning of all things; the first things.

The city of Jericho represented the genetics of evil, the beginning of the deviation. As an example, I want to say that I agree with every custom and commandment that is written in the bible, because it is the word of God. But when people celebrate some customs, such as Christmas, which is not based in the bible, then I ask: Who invented it, and where did it begin?

When God wants to destroy something he abhors, He usually destroys the root of it; for this reason Matthew 3:10writes: And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Now, if we talk about genetics, all of us received the information we needed in the loins of our father; this happened before we were formed in our mother’s womb. King David realized this when he saw the cause of his adultery with Bathsheba; in Psalms 51:5he wrote: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.I am not saying that falling into sin is something we should do to discover our faults, but in the case of David, his fall served to show the sin that was hidden in his heart. About this fall, Daniel writes the next passage:

Daniel 11:33, 35And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. [35] And some of those of understandingshall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time. This means that there are people who didn’t consider temptation as something dangerous, and for this reason they fall. Therefore God uses these falls to show us the way to repentance and to purify ourselves.

Beloved brethren, we must go before the Lord and say: There are things that I cannot overcome; recently I feel like I have reached a limit in my life and I cannot longer transcend. If this is your case, it is time to recognize your own Jericho and destroy it completely. Christ made you more than conqueror through His victory.